New and updated EBC Methods

Analytical methods | At the end of November 2020, the European Brewery Convention (EBC) and the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) have released a new International Method. A successful international collaborative trial organized in 2018 and 2019 involving 17 laboratories throughout the world led to the creation of this new method on the determination of bitter compounds in dry-hopped beers.

New Method EBC 9.50 and ASBC Beer-23-G

In addition to iso-alpha-acids, humulinones are known to contribute to bitterness in dry-hopped beer. The same is true for non-isomerized alpha-acids, but to a minor degree. This HPLC-UV method is recommended for the analysis of dry-hopped beers containing humulinones (and α-acids) in addition to iso-α-acids. It is similar to Method EBC 9.47.

The Method is available for sale on BrewUp under brewup.eu/ebc-analytica and from the ASBC website.

Updated Method EBC 9.8 and ASBC Beer-23

In addition, EBC and ASBC have also released an updated International Method on the determination of bitterness units (BU) of beer. The update covers the “Precision Chapter”. It now contains two tables. In addition to the table on conventionally-hopped beers, it also reflects the results of a second collaborative trial on dry-hopped beers carried out in 2019 covering higher BU levels.

The updated Method is also available for sale on BrewUp under brewup.eu/ebc-analytica and from the ASBC website.